Yuma was one of five rural Colorado counties to vote to secede from the state last November, a reaction to Democratic policymaking in Denver. It was about representation and respect, supporters said. So, how representative was the secession movement?

In their hands you can feel the land, the cornstalks, fence posts, castrating knives and hard dirt. First in the hands of the greeters in the Methodist church foyer. Then in the hands of the members of the congregation welcoming visitors to Thanksgiving service. You could feel it like you could feel the morning chill.

As the Republican governor of Texas, Rick Perry has walked both sides of the immigration line, at one point implementing a Texas-style Dream Act that some say was the model for the national act. On the other hand, he's also pushed for local police to have more authority to check on people's immigration status.

Last year outspoken Republican Texas Governor Rick Perry boasted about his state's conservative approach to economics and its lean budget. He derided the budget messes faced by other states and blasted Democratic-controlled Washington, telling Tea Party crowds that lawmakers had abandoned the Founding Fathers' vision of limited government. He said President Obama's Washington was strangling Americans with taxing and spending. Tea Partiers waved signs criticizing Obama's $780 billion economic stimulus package. Perry later told reporters that Texans were getting so fed up that they might consider seceding from the Union. Then news came that, hidden under budgetary lipstick and rouge, Texas faced a major $18 billion budget shortfall-- as much as 20 percent of the state's next two-year budget. Today came news from the National Conference of State Legislatures that Perry's Texas took more federal stimulus money than any other state in the country. In fact, Texas plugged 97 percent of its budget shortfall last year with Obama stimulus cash.

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The Colorado Independent's award-winning team of veteran investigative and explanatory reporters and news columnists aims to amplify the voices of Coloradans whose stories are unheard, shine light on the relationships between people, power and policy, and hold public officials to account. We strive to report the news with context, social conscience, and soul, and to give Coloradans the insight they need to promote conversation, understanding and progress in this square, swing state we call home.

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OUR MISSION

The Colorado Independent's award-winning team of veteran investigative and explanatory reporters and news columnists aims to amplify the voices of Coloradans whose stories are unheard, shine light on the relationships between people, power and policy, and hold public officials to account. We strive to report the news with context, social conscience, and soul, and to give Coloradans the insight they need to promote conversation, understanding and progress in this square, swing state we call home.